Johanna Report post Posted August 31, 2007 :soapbox: Many of use plain old Microsoft Outlook Express, and it usually does what it's supposed to. However, OE is not a storage device. OE will unpredictably crash, now and then, and you will lose your some or all of your mail. Period. It seems to have something to do with getting too full, and the "compact messages" prompt every 100 times you close the program. I'm not saying "do not compact messages" when prompted, but I seem to go along just fine for months and months..and I get careless and complacent, then WHAM! :fire: The inevitable OE overload crash. Some folders are just empty. My rules for sorting mail don't work. My saved mail is gone, including the most important folder of all...but I didn't cry or anything. I think I did say a bad word or two at first, but it was at the thought of the nuisance. See, I do regular backups, so I have the .dbx files (OE messages) handy. I also have some software that will display them other than OE. How many people who use OE regularly can say that they wouldn't mind if their inbox and some random folders disappeared? I don't see too many hands... It's a PITA, that's why. You know the pics your sister sent are gone. You can't find the directions to the event you are going to. You will forget Aunt Helen's birthday and the telephone number you were supposed to have in case of emergency. Another inconvenience is the suddenly missing address book. (Save a copy of your WAB "Windows Address Book" today, before you forget.) Instead of getting a headache over any recovery, this is what I did- I deleted everything that OE had left, and then let it download the mail from the server. Yes, in OE, under Tools> account> properties> advanced you can tick "leave copy of message on server". (very handy if you have a laptop, too) Some ISPs will only retain so much mail, but then, if that mail was important to you, you did "save" it out of OE, didn't you? Did you click "save" and navigate to a folder in "my documents"? If you didn'tuse the "save", then the message only exists in OE. And that is not good. I have had OE just gasp and choke, and half my mail will be gone *poof* several times. It's a big mistake to keep anything important in OE. I learned to save things the hard way. When my Inbox disappeared, I knew that all that unread mail was likely to stay unread. I would have to be sick or bored to ever catch up on all those interesting online newsletters that accumulate in my mail! All the mail that meant anything was saved elsewhere, and recent mail was downloaded again. I fixed the broken rules, and I recovered what I wanted to, I think. But who knows? I don't remember what all I lost. So, if I was supposed to do something for you, and I didn't, bear with me and remind me, because my inbox is weird (empty) at the moment, and I'm blaming it on a computer crash. I'm also reminding everyone who uses OE of the fragility of their mail. It could be gone the next time you close OE, you never know! So if there is something truly important to you, save it, or, better yet, gmail it to yourself. Then, not only will you be able to keep it forever, you will be able to find it in a second, an ability OE has never mastered, ever. OE is undependable, clumsy and frustrating, and there isn't a good reason to use it, nor should a person ever get too comfortable with keeping anything in there safely. If you want to keep it, save it OUT of OE. Johanna Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beaverslayer Report post Posted August 31, 2007 Johanna, I use Incredimail, and I have never erver had a problme with it, I am even using their free version. Maybe give it a try and see what you think. Ken Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dsenette Report post Posted August 31, 2007 OE sucks!...there...i'm done Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abn Report post Posted August 31, 2007 Johanna, you might want to give Mozilla Thunderbird a try. Why continue to be frustrated by Outlook Express when there's a really good, free open source program out there? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Art Report post Posted August 31, 2007 Hi Johanna, I kinda got converted to gmail about 2 years ago and have never looked back, I still have outlook (not OE) and occasionally I bring it up and suck everything out of gmail. Google gives you enough space and I have tried to fill it up, but the next day I seem to have 2 gig more than I need. Yeah, Google searches your mail and suggests links, but honestly some of those links I never would have found AND are revelant to what I am interested in; and if you think you can expect privacy in any email system, forgetaboutit. Have NEVER received anything from Google saying "Sorry, we had a terrible calimity and lost some of your mail", and the search capabilities whip most anything. Art Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johanna Report post Posted August 31, 2007 I started using gmail to prevent OE from collapsing over a couple of yahoo accounts I had to accept all individual messages from or else I couldn't see the pictures. (I really like the pictures!) I don't think any email program has a better search than gmail. I probably should convert my other mail, but my ISP has an excellent spam filter, and I've had the same address for years. Like I said, it's laziness on my part. I always work assuming everything will be lost forever, so my back ups prevented any possible disaster from this, but let my experience serve as a warning if anyone has gotten sloppy with OE. It's a temperamental piece of software, and it will let you down when you least expect it. If you don't like that idea, there are good alternatives, like gmail. Anything online has no privacy. Anything we type is public record forever, server to server, living forever. gmail has never lost my mail, either, and I till have 65% of my account in free space, with over 15,000 stored "conversations". I have years of yahoo pics and posts online, not hogging any space or resources, and available in a couple of clicks. I hate yahoo, did I ever mention that? Johanna Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Sheldon Report post Posted August 31, 2007 I use Thunderbird, with the server type set to IMAP. Messages stay on the server, so I can access them from anywhere. In my experience, there's only two types of people who use Outlook: 1: Those who are required to by their employer 2: Those who haven't tried something else yet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustWakinUp Report post Posted August 31, 2007 (edited) Johanna, you might want to give Mozilla Thunderbird a try. Why continue to be frustrated by Outlook Express when there's a really good, free open source program out there? I'm a huge advocate for using thunderbird as an email client. I then use my thunderbird to pull email down from gmail and leave the messages on the server. Not only do i have the archival benefits from gmails webmail but now I can archive at home as well. It's nice to know that I wont be losing any of my emails due to a crash, and if I do go through a huge HDD crash then my emails are still in tact on the gmail webmail server. It's a win win....Goodluck and if you need any technical assistance please don't hesitate to ask. **side note - have your ISP forward your mail to your new gmail account....or you can set that up yourself. Then you definitely have ZERO worries Edited August 31, 2007 by JustWakinUp Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chipperi Report post Posted September 1, 2007 Heres another vote for Thunderbird...while your at it ya might wanna give Firefox a shot instead of internet exploder. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustWakinUp Report post Posted September 1, 2007 Heres another vote for Thunderbird...while your at it ya might wanna give Firefox a shot instead of internet exploder. People still use IE? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Sheldon Report post Posted September 1, 2007 People still use IE? Yeah, current stats I have run about 72-80% IE for visits to consumer-type sites. Visitors to tech sites run closer to 50-60% IE. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
